GALLINL'LA CHLOROPUS. 
783 
In India the Moorhen is generally diffused throughout the country, and inhabits both the hills and the 
plains. It breeds as high as Ootacamund in the Nilghiris, and must therefore he a permanent resident in the 
uplands of Southern India. It does not, however, seem to have been met with by either Mr. Bourdillon or 
Dr. Fairbank, from which I infer that it is very local in its distribution. From the northern parts of India it 
is recorded by all who have collected of late years. Mr. Hume says that it abounds in every swamp and 
“ broad ” in Sindh. Captain Butler notes it from tanks between Deesa and Ahmedabad, and particularly from 
those near Milana, 18 miles from the former place ; it is not, however, so common in this region as in Sindh. 
In the Samblmr-Lake district, according to Mr. Adam, it abounds. Messrs. Davidson and Mender say that it 
is not rare in the Deccan. Passing over the north-eastern region of the peninsula, we find Mr. Ball recording 
it from the Rajmehal hills, Bardwan, Nowagarh, and Karial, and Mr. Hume from Raipur and Sambalpur, south 
of theMahanadi; the latter gentleman also observes that it is brought into the Calcutta market at times; and 
Mr. Cripps has met with it in February in Furreedpore. In North-eastern Cachar Mr. Inglis affirms that it is 
very common ; and the same is recorded of it as regards Upper Pegu by Mr. Oates. In Tenasserim it is said 
to be confined to the north and central portions of the province ; and Mr. Davison procured one specimen at a 
place called Shymotee. 
Throughout China and Formosa it is, says Swinhoe, to be found, and, according to Pere David, is abun- 
dant near Pekin. Crossing over to the Philippines, we find it again an inhabitant of that extensive archi- 
pelago; Cuming procured it there; and Lord Walden cites (l. c.) two examples from Luzon obtained by Herr 
Meyer. It extends northward to Japan, and is included in Messrs. Blakiston and Fryer’s list of birds as 
frequenting Tokio, Yezo, and Yokohama. 
Returning now to India, and following it to the north-west of the empire, we find Stoliczka observing it 
breeding on the Woolar lake in Cashmir; and across the range it is common, says Dr. Scully, in the plains ol 
Eastern Turkestan in summer, though he never saw it in winter. Scvcrtzoff says that it breeds in the south- 
eastern, south-western, and north-western districts of this country, ranging for that purpose as high as 
4000 feet. In Central Asia it breeds at Lake Tsaidemin-nor, but, writes Prjevalsky, does not occur in the 
Ussuri country. Middendorff does not record it from Siberia, nor Schrenck from Amoorland, so that we 
cannot accurately define its northernmost limit in Central Asia. In Palestine and in Asia Minor it is found 
at all seasons. 
It is resident in some of the islands of the Mediterranean, but not common in Corsica. In Italy it is 
migratory in some parts of the country ; for Dr. H. Giglioni affirms that it arrives in the neighbourhood 
of Pisa in April, and is then very common there. In Transylvania Messrs. Alston and Harvie Brown 
likewise testify to its being a migrant. In the south of Spain Col. Irby states that it is resident, being 
tolerably plentiful and generally distributed in all suitable localities. Mr. Saunders found it breeding 
near Seville ; and Lord Lilford observed it in the Madrid neighbourhood. In France, Germany, Holland, 
and the British Isles it is a common bird, not breeding, however, in Shetland. It passes through 
Heligoland, according to Herr Gatke, in April and May, returning in August and September. It ranges 
as far north as the Central parts of Sweden, and is sometimes seen in Finland. The Faroe islands are also 
inhabited by it. 
As regards the continent of Africa, it is resident, according to Favier, in the vicinity of Tangier ; and in 
Lower Egypt and the Fayoom it is, says Capt. Shelley, plentiful in some districts ; elsewhere in the country 
he did not meet with it, though he supposes that it is probably distributed throughout it. Yon Heuglin 
writes that it is a bird of passage to North-east Africa and the Arabian coast, remaining in these regions from 
October till March, during which period it is common in Abyssinia, ranging as far south as the Gala district, 
and ascending the highlands to an altitude of 10,000 feet. This author likewise considers it probable that it 
breeds in the delta of the Nile. It ranges down the entire continent of South Africa, and has been obtained 
at Mozambique and in the islands of Mauritius and Reunion, and likewise in the Seychelles. Mr. F. Barratt 
shot it in the Transvaal and on the Orange River, and procured it in Pretoria in December. Layard says it 
is not uncommon in Cape Colony; and it has also been obtained in Damara Land. 
On the west coast it inhabits Senegal, and has been obtained in Angola, Benguela, and the island of 
St. Thomas. Mr. Du Cane Godman notes it as a straggler to the island of Madeira, and considers that it has 
been introduced into St. Michael’s (Azores), where it is found on the Lagoa do Fogo. 
